For many years, architects, home designers, contractors and consumers have not incorporated arched openings in structures, particularly residential homes. The aversion to arched openings has nothing to do with appeal or the demand for such. For so long, the cost factor has precluded arches from being routinely used in residential construction, especially homes in the lower to moderate price range. The basic problem giving rise to cost considerations is that in the past such arch structures have, for the most part, been constructed on site by highly skilled trim carpenters. Custom making arched openings, even when done by skilled and experienced craftsmen, is time consuming, tedious, and in the end, very expensive.
In recent years, architects, home designers and building contractors have had available to them prefabricated arch structures. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,618, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, there is shown a prefabricated arch where the major components, including an arched header and a pair of columns, are prefabricated for installation into an opening within the structure. Such prefabricated arches have met with substantial commercial success. They can be manufactured in various sizes and with various moldings and trim. While these prefabricated arches have generally been successful in the marketplace, they still are not used on a routine basis in residential structures. There may be a variety of reasons for this, including the cost of such prefabricated arch structures. In addition, many such prefabricated arch structures are still custom made off site and shipped to a distributor or contractor for use in a particular building. Such structures are difficult and expensive to ship, not to mention the problems that often arise because of damage sustained in shipment.
Therefore, there continues to be a need for an arch structure that can be used in a wide variety of applications and which can be sold at a price point that will make arch structures suitable for homes within a wide price range.